Weakening global market conditions expected to emerge in 2011 are likely to have a profound effect on Asian real estate prices, it has been suggested. Analysts have expressed fears that the region's property markets are in a prime position to feel the full force of any potential downturn.
According to Knight Franks' Global Residential Market Forecast 2011, while prices in the west have fallen over the past few years, the majority of Asian markets' prices either fell only marginally from 2006 or have not dropped at all.
Indeed, in most cases prices in the region are currently higher than the levels seen before the credit crisis hit. This has led Knight Franks' analysts to predict that the continent will not be able to escape weakening market conditions.
Added to this, fears of a double-dip recession are still prominent and with house price performance linked strongly to GDP any change is likely to have a marked effect.